Perceptions and attitudes The perceptions and attitudes towards this new innovation tend to vary slightly between administrator, teacher and student. The administration tends to view Canvas as a challenge. This is primarily because it is going to change the way administration observes the teachers and it is going to require them to become familiar with a new LMS. This is not necessarily regarded as a negative challenge, but rather as an important step forward in the ever changing landscape of education. Teachers however, seemed to be far more open to this LMS and were eager to learn how to navigate Canvas and how to apply it to their standards. They saw it as a way to individualize instruction, provide meaningful and ongoing collaboration between the students and the teacher, as well as a way to both remediate and extend learners. The students perceptions of Canvas tended to differ. One student stated that Canvas was meaningful if used in conjunction with “regular class work”. She also believed that Canvas could become quite monotonous if used in isolation. She preferred working in an actual group rather than participating in chat rooms. The other student interviewed expressed a keen interest in Canvas as it enabled him access to his friends even when they were not in the same room. He also enjoyed being able to access search engines rather than page through textbooks. Both students addressed the fact that the WiFi at school was not always reliable.
Knowledge and skills The administrators expressed the need to become familiar with the LMS as they would have to understand how the teachers were placing the lessons online. They expressed the desire to remain ahead of the learning curve in order for it to be effective. At this stage of the LMS they felt that they needed to improve their knowledge and skills. The teachers were very enthusiastic about the LMS as it allowed the students to discuss and collaborate beyond normal school hours and also allowed the teachers to continue the education process beyond the classroom. The students interviewed believed that were obtaining more curriculum knowledge through the LMS, as they were able to access search engines with ease. It was interesting to note that the students saw knowledge and skills as academic and not as technological. This could be because the younger generation is far more technologically savvy than the older generation, and navigating Canvas was far more intuitive for most of them.
Concerns Both administrators and teachers had concerns regarding parental understanding of the LMS. Some parents were not willing or able to learn how to access Canvas and as a result did not provide parental support and interest. Some parents had the belief that the computer was becoming the teacher as they lacked understanding regarding the opportunities and instruction that this program was able to provide. Time or rather the lack of it was a concern for the administrators and teachers. The need to spend time in order to become familiar and comfortable with the LMS was a necessity, but was not always readily available. The teachers also expressed a desire for greater bandwidth as what they had was not sufficient to run the LMS to its maximum efficiency. The students saw the WiFi connection as a major concern. They said that the slow and unreliable WiFi caused them to fall behind in their assignments.
Support needs All the stakeholders interviewed expressed very similar support needs. The first is an ongoing need for more training. Administrators stated that although they had been given training, they would prefer it if this was an ongoing process, rather than a few intense sessions. They also expressed a need for a person at district level that they could trouble shoot with and explore further ideas. Teachers that were more comfortable with the LMS, stated that they would like to extend their knowledge a little further and become see how more advanced users had moved up to the next level. Other teachers who were less familiar with Canvas wanted support regarding differentiation within the actual LMS. Although the students interviewed initially seemed quite comfortable using Canvas they seemed less sure of themselves when asked a direct question regarding support. One student wanted to learn how to navigate her way completely through Canvas, while another just wanted more support in general. I found it quite interesting to note that one student stated that he had plenty of support offered to him via the teacher, while another student wanted more than the teacher was able to offer. This could be due to one teacher being more competent than the other or the one student having better technological skills than the other.
Social and Organizational Barriers
With this being a new adoption with only pilot classrooms fully immersed in the application of the LMS, it has been noted that the culture change will be one of the largest social and organizational barriers to overcome. With teachers and students both being new to this design of learning it is most certainly requiring a slow and steady implementation. It is questioned how much time and energy can go into adequately preparing teachers and students for this change as the diffusion rolls out to more classrooms in the future.
Major Barriers
Utilizing an LMS that is unfamiliar to not only teachers and students, but also unfamiliar to families will most certainly be a major barrier. Families with questions will rely on teachers who may or may not have all the answers initially in the diffusion of this innovation. As educators have long been seen as the experts in their classrooms, they no may feel unprepared to be able to solve problems related to the learning process as it is tied to Canvas programming or bandwidth concerns. The fear of having to abandon your planned lesson for the day due to a system failure is one that teachers are not comfortable with.
Major Enablers
Canvas provides a opportunity for students to be able to access their content and assignments from anywhere with the use of computers and mobile devices. The app provides an opportunity for students to be able to engage whenever they have the time to do so. The quick feedback and communication that is made possible will allow for more effective learning practices in time. Sharing of curriculum is made possible, encouraging professional learning and sharing networks to come in time. Canvas also allows for students to learn at their own pace, allowing them to have more ownership in the learning process.
The perceptions and attitudes towards this new innovation tend to vary slightly between administrator, teacher and student. The administration tends to view Canvas as a challenge. This is primarily because it is going to change the way administration observes the teachers and it is going to require them to become familiar with a new LMS. This is not necessarily regarded as a negative challenge, but rather as an important step forward in the ever changing landscape of education. Teachers however, seemed to be far more open to this LMS and were eager to learn how to navigate Canvas and how to apply it to their standards. They saw it as a way to individualize instruction, provide meaningful and ongoing collaboration between the students and the teacher, as well as a way to both remediate and extend learners. The students perceptions of Canvas tended to differ. One student stated that Canvas was meaningful if used in conjunction with “regular class work”. She also believed that Canvas could become quite monotonous if used in isolation. She preferred working in an actual group rather than participating in chat rooms. The other student interviewed expressed a keen interest in Canvas as it enabled him access to his friends even when they were not in the same room. He also enjoyed being able to access search engines rather than page through textbooks. Both students addressed the fact that the WiFi at school was not always reliable.
Knowledge and skills
The administrators expressed the need to become familiar with the LMS as they would have to understand how the teachers were placing the lessons online. They expressed the desire to remain ahead of the learning curve in order for it to be effective. At this stage of the LMS they felt that they needed to improve their knowledge and skills. The teachers were very enthusiastic about the LMS as it allowed the students to discuss and collaborate beyond normal school hours and also allowed the teachers to continue the education process beyond the classroom. The students interviewed believed that were obtaining more curriculum knowledge through the LMS, as they were able to access search engines with ease. It was interesting to note that the students saw knowledge and skills as academic and not as technological. This could be because the younger generation is far more technologically savvy than the older generation, and navigating Canvas was far more intuitive for most of them.
Concerns
Both administrators and teachers had concerns regarding parental understanding of the LMS. Some parents were not willing or able to learn how to access Canvas and as a result did not provide parental support and interest. Some parents had the belief that the computer was becoming the teacher as they lacked understanding regarding the opportunities and instruction that this program was able to provide. Time or rather the lack of it was a concern for the administrators and teachers. The need to spend time in order to become familiar and comfortable with the LMS was a necessity, but was not always readily available. The teachers also expressed a desire for greater bandwidth as what they had was not sufficient to run the LMS to its maximum efficiency. The students saw the WiFi connection as a major concern. They said that the slow and unreliable WiFi caused them to fall behind in their assignments.
Support needs
All the stakeholders interviewed expressed very similar support needs. The first is an ongoing need for more training. Administrators stated that although they had been given training, they would prefer it if this was an ongoing process, rather than a few intense sessions. They also expressed a need for a person at district level that they could trouble shoot with and explore further ideas. Teachers that were more comfortable with the LMS, stated that they would like to extend their knowledge a little further and become see how more advanced users had moved up to the next level. Other teachers who were less familiar with Canvas wanted support regarding differentiation within the actual LMS. Although the students interviewed initially seemed quite comfortable using Canvas they seemed less sure of themselves when asked a direct question regarding support. One student wanted to learn how to navigate her way completely through Canvas, while another just wanted more support in general. I found it quite interesting to note that one student stated that he had plenty of support offered to him via the teacher, while another student wanted more than the teacher was able to offer. This could be due to one teacher being more competent than the other or the one student having better technological skills than the other.
Social and Organizational Barriers
With this being a new adoption with only pilot classrooms fully immersed in the application of the LMS, it has been noted that the culture change will be one of the largest social and organizational barriers to overcome. With teachers and students both being new to this design of learning it is most certainly requiring a slow and steady implementation. It is questioned how much time and energy can go into adequately preparing teachers and students for this change as the diffusion rolls out to more classrooms in the future.
Major Barriers
Utilizing an LMS that is unfamiliar to not only teachers and students, but also unfamiliar to families will most certainly be a major barrier. Families with questions will rely on teachers who may or may not have all the answers initially in the diffusion of this innovation. As educators have long been seen as the experts in their classrooms, they no may feel unprepared to be able to solve problems related to the learning process as it is tied to Canvas programming or bandwidth concerns. The fear of having to abandon your planned lesson for the day due to a system failure is one that teachers are not comfortable with.
Major Enablers
Canvas provides a opportunity for students to be able to access their content and assignments from anywhere with the use of computers and mobile devices. The app provides an opportunity for students to be able to engage whenever they have the time to do so. The quick feedback and communication that is made possible will allow for more effective learning practices in time. Sharing of curriculum is made possible, encouraging professional learning and sharing networks to come in time. Canvas also allows for students to learn at their own pace, allowing them to have more ownership in the learning process.
Student Grace
Parent John
Administrator Kit
Student Grace
Teacher Heather
Administrator Kit